


Something About Us

by AngelicSentinel



Series: i carry your heart [6]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Haunting, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:49:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicSentinel/pseuds/AngelicSentinel
Summary: the one where your soulmate’s ghost haunts you when they die.





	1. Kaito

**I.**

 

Kaito wakes up to find someone hovering over his bed, staring at him.

As in three centimeters from his face.

He’s ashamed to admit he screams. Loudly. Pulls the covers up to his naked chest, clutching them tightly.

The figure jerks back, hovering a tiny bit higher than before. He can see right through them; messy deep brown hair, the most outrageous yellow and green jacket paired with blue jeans.

They scream back at him.

He screams again, scrambling out of bed and falling to the floor as his legs get tangled in the sheets. Kaito scrambles back against the wall, and it’s by then his common sense seems to reassert himself. He picks up the closest object, which just so happens to be his stereo, and throws it at the thing which followed him and _is still far too close._

It soars through harmlessly and lands on the floor with a hard crash as the thing fades into formless mist for a moment.

He should have expected that. He's see-through.

The figure rolls its eyes as it solidifies. His. Broad shoulders, young face. Probably Kaito’s own age, even. It’s just as afraid as he is, and somehow that gives him the courage to talk to it.

“Why are you in my room?” Kaito demands, pointing his finger, affecting annoyance that is not entirely feigned. If it can scream, it can probably talk.

“Do you think I know?” the figure replies, somewhat testily.

“You were staring at my face,” Kaito says, horrified. “While I was sleeping.” His voice gets a few octaves higher. “That’s creepy!”

“Yeah, well I have somewhere I need to be, but no, I’m stuck here.” He crosses his arms, sits in midair. “Staring at your face isn’t on my list of favorite pastimes. I have better things to do, stupid.”

“You were! Don't lie!”

“Besides, I wasn’t staring, anyway. I was just looking.”

“How is looking any different from staring!?”

“It just is, okay?” the figure says with a huff.

“Great explanation!” The figure narrows his eyes. “Why don’t you go away?” Kaito says, waving one hand.

“I can’t get more than thirty centimeters away from you. Believe me, I’ve tried.” The teenager glares at him like it’s his fault.

Kaito looks at him in horror.

“So I was trying to investigate exactly who you are and why I’ve found myself inconveniently attached. It's a little hard to do when I can't get away from you.”

“Inconveniently? I’m the one who is inconvenient? You’re hilarious.” Kaito rubs at his face. “And that involves staring at me like some kind of weirdo?”

“It wasn’t staring!” the figure protests.

“ _Uh-huh_ ,” Kaito says flatly. Then he pointedly climbs into bed and pulls the covers over his head, muttering, “Okay, that’s fine Kaito, you’ve just been a little stressed, not enough to have a mental break, but that’s okay, there’s a cause for this, just take a deep breath, and center yourself, it’s just a dream, just a dream, or you haven’t had enough sleep and it’s the exhaustion talking, you’ll go to sleep and wake up and he’ll be gone, and everything will be just fine.”

A period of long silence. Kaito peeps out from under the blankets. The dark room is empty. But he closes his eyes, falls back against the pillow. “You’re not gone, are you?”

“...No.”

Kaito slams his pillow over his head and groans.

 

**II.**

 

Kaito passes Akako in the hall doing some kind of witchy thing, (in reality she's talking to Aoko's friend Keiko, but Kaito is pretty sure it's for nefarious purposes) but she doesn't even blink twice at his passenger.

Hmm. Interesting. He knows better than to ask her. He makes his way to the classroom only to be stared at by Aoko.

The... _thing_ he denies even exists stares hard at Aoko. Kaito moves into its line of sight.

She puts her hand on her mouth. “Kaito! You look— “

Kaito shoots Aoko a baleful look. Then he turns and looks over his shoulder and nope, still there. Kaito goes back to ignoring it. He sits down at his desk on autopilot, slamming his head down on his desk loud enough to make Konno-sensei and half his classmates jump, including Aoko. She frowns.

“Kaito?” Aoko ventures again. “Such heavy bags under your eyes. Did you get any sleep last night at all?”

He peers up at her out from the corner of his eye, mumbles something unintelligible and places his head back down again. “Ahoko, shut up,” he whines.

“Now isn’t this a highly unusual variance from your normal behavior,” Hakuba says, sounding amused.

Jerk. “Ugh,” he mumbles to the desk. “Go away,” he says.

“No, I don’t think I shall,” he says, actually leaning against his desk.

“What have I ever done to you?” Kaito bemoans.

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” Hakuba asks.

“No.”

A disturbance in the air as Aoko throws a haymaker. Kaito jumps to the top of his desk, landing on the balls of his feet.

“Whoa!” his irritating tag-along says. It has thankfully been keeping quiet until now. Kaito doesn’t let it distract him as Aoko follows up with a hammer fist Kaito backflips to avoid. She follows up with a heel kick which gives Kaito a very nice view of her underwear and the sweet curve of her inner thigh. He takes a moment to appreciate it as he holds her ankle. His body should block her from flashing from the rest of the classroom, though. And the thing, which is definitely looking.

“Black _and_ lacy today? Bold, very bold,” Kaito says, nodding. The whole class laughs. Kaito preens. “Is there someone you're showing out for? Hakuba, perhaps? I hope not, you deserve better. He's a jerk.”

“Kaito!” Aoko grinds out through clenched teeth.

“Or is it Akako?” A growl of incoherent, beautiful rage. “I won't judge, promise. In fact, you make a cute couple.” He flips himself around over her shoulders as she comes after him with a jab and a cross. Then he kneels down on one knee, clasping one of her hands with the two of his own. “As your best friend since childhood, I support you one hundred percent.”

“Thank you,” Aoko says absently, and then her eyes widen and she turns an interesting shade of puce. “BAKAITO!”

Kaito beams. Sweet, sweet music to his ears. He jumps again before she can get him with a sweep.

“Kaito is obviously just fine! Aoko doesn't know why she was worried!”

“Kuroba-kun, Nakamori-san! Class has started!” Konno-sensei yells at them both, her hair in disarray.

Aoko shoots him one last glare and sits down, passing through the figure to do so. It doesn't seem to bother Aoko, but the figure shudders and explodes into mist as she passes through, its disembodied voice saying, “That feels weird. Blech! And why does it taste like coconut?”

Kaito follows suit, feeling a little bit better now that he's distracted Aoko from any serious questioning.

“Do you do this often?” only its voice says dryly.

Kaito looks up, and he reappears floating upside down in the vicinity above his head.

He pointedly ignores him, turning his head back to the classwork on the board.

“Ignoring me won't make me go away, you know.”

Kaito ignores him harder.

 

**III.**

 

When he eats dinner with Aoko and her father, the thing is still there. It just watches him, hovering around his head, having remained mostly quiet for the rest of the day. It stays that way until Kaito goes back home.

Kaito heads for the shower on automatic, halfway undressing before freezing as he remembers his unwanted house guest.

“Can't you just go away?” he whines, fingers around the band of his underwear, ready to pull them down.

“I would if I could,” the thing mutters. “It's the last thing I want to see.”

“At least close your eyes.” The figure sighs, but obliges him as Kaito strips himself.

Then Kaito gasps as he's naked, covering himself with his hand. “You’re transparent,” he accuses. You have see-through _eyelids._ ”

“I can't see anything. Stop being such a kid,” the figure says.

“Can you at least turn around?”

“Fine!” he does as he's asked in a huff.

It doesn't stop him from being pulled into the shower with him, but at least it's less awkward.

It's still one of the fastest showers Kaito has ever taken.

Normally at this point in his nightly routine, he'd go inside his secret room and tinker with his tricks, but that doesn't seem to be an option tonight.

“Well,” Kaito says. “Ignoring you doesn't seem to work.”

“What brought you to _that_ conclusion?” the figure says.

“For being a figment of my mental breakdown, you're awfully stubborn,” Kaito comments. “Are you going to stare at me all night again?” Kaito says as he climbs into bed, looking up at the man hovering the maximum distance of thirty centimeters directly above him. It's still too close.

“I told you I wasn't staring.”

“Who are you anyway?”

“I’m—”

“I'm waiting.”

The figure shudders, vibrating like the wings of a hummingbird, trying in a multitude a of ways to speak. “I’m— Oh, damn it, I can't say!” he says finally, frustrated.

“Why are you here?”

“I...don't know,” he says. “But I can guess. I got hit over the head and someone shoved a pill down my throat. I passed out. I woke up here.”

“I don't think it was waking up,” Kaito says. “I think it was the opposite.”

“You _think_?” he says, crossing his arms. “I wonder what gave you that idea.”

“Wow, your sarcasm game sure is strong today. But why are you haunting me?”

“No clue. I would have to get stuck with a freaky pervert.”

“Freaky pervert?” Kaito says, affronted. “You're the one that was staring at me. _While I slept._ And took a shower with me. _Which was very unwanted_.”

“ _I didn’t have a choice._ You’re the one that perved on your friend.”

“Aoko didn't have to kick me. Excuse me for taking advantage of an opportunity. Besides, I caught you looking too.”

He blushes. “I was not!”

“Heheheh, you totally were! So if anyone is the pervert, it's you.” Kaito nods decisively. “It's settled.”

“What's settled?” he says, confused.

“You are henceforth known as Rei.”

“Surely there's something else?”

“Nope. Deal with it, Rei. Unless you want to be known as Freaky Pervert.”

“No way!” Rei says with a grimace. “I've been doing a lot of dealing,” he grumbles.

Kaito rolls over on his back so he's facing the spirit. “What's it like?”

“What?”

“Being what you are.”

Rei doesn't talk for a long time.

Finally, he says, “Boring. Cold. I can't sleep, I can't touch anything. I can't go anywhere. No one can hear me, except you. And every time someone walks through me, I feel like I'm coming apart.”

“Wow.” Kaito acts as phantom thief, an illusion, something that was never there in the first place, but he can’t imagine how that might feel.

“Well, if you're just going to make fun of me—”

Huh. Considering he really meant it. He opens his mouth to speak, but eh, he doesn't want to deal with it. “I wasn’t, but whatever.”  Kaito forces a yawn. “Night,” he says, rolling over, ignoring the figure’s sputtered protests.

 

**IV.**

 

So of course, the very next day Aoko brings something to his attention. “Kaitou Kid has sent out a heist note!” she says, shaking the newspaper. “He put it in the paper!”

Kaitou Kid most certainly has not sent out a heist note. “Really? Can I see it?”

 

 

 

 

_When the moon’s twice halved betwixt wax and wane,_

_I’ll fall from heaven to steal the Heart’s Bane._

_It’s a date, Inspector, so don't be late~_

_~~~~~~_

“Yeah. Do you want to go with Aoko?”  Aoko says, spreading it across his desk and tapping the headline. “Aoko's dad has already invited her, and Aoko is going to support him.”

Kaito thinks about it, looks up at Rei. “I'm not sure,” Kaito admits. It’s not like Rei can tell anyone, but...Rei is looking between Kaito and Aoko and the heist note with great interest, a frown on his face.

“Well, that's again unusual,” Hakuba says. “Doesn't Kid usually confront pretenders rather than let them use his identity?”

“I guess,” Kaito says noncommittally.

“Pretenders?” Aoko says, confused. “Like the one at Hopper’s magic show? What makes him a pretender?”

“Look at the band of his hat,” Hakuba says.

“Great job, detective, but I don't understand why you're telling me about it,” Kaito says. Privately, he thinks the teeth are more obvious. And insulting.

“Don't you?” Hakuba says smirking, watching him intently.

Kaito frowns. That smug bastard. Kaito ignores him. “Isn't Phantom Thief Kid usually more straightforward than this? Has the Inspector even found out when it's going to happen?” Kaito needs to get on top of this. And fast.

“Well, no, Dad thinks it's going to be tonight since the heist note came in the paper today,” Aoko says.

“It's not,” the apparition says. It's the first time he's said anything to him since last night.

About ten seconds later, Hakuba says, “No, that's not it. It's three days from now, when the moon hits its waning crescent. Twice halved from wax to wane. Half would be the quarter moon, so half again would be the waning crescent. Emphasis on it’s a date. But that still leaves the time unspecified, which is definitely not like him.”

Rei shakes his head. “Half right.”

Kaito says “Oh?” He already has an idea, but he wants to hear what Rei has to say.

Hakuba says something, but Kaito tunes him out.

“It doesn't make sense that he would announce his so-called heist in today's paper for a date three days later unless there was something else at work. I think your friend is right, it’s tonight. Or rather, tomorrow morning, about four a.m., when the moon reaches—”

“Lunar noon,” he and Kaito murmur in unison. Cutting it close, but it's doable, so long as it doesn’t run overlong. Hakuba is right. He's never let an imposter go uncontested, and he's not going to start now.

“It’s twice halved, not halved twice, so half the cycle of the wane of the moon is third quarter, and that's today. Half of a lunar day is lunar noon. Well, moonrise to moonset, since a lunar day in the traditional use of the term takes a full lunar orbit around earth, it being tide locked,” Rei says. “Your other friend is wrong.”

“He’s not my friend,” Kaito mutters. Rei rolls his eyes.

“What?” Aoko asks. “Kaito, what did you say?”

“Nothing,” Kaito says.

“Aren’t you going to let the police know?” Rei asks.

Kait doesn’t answer, looking pointedly at the class around him.

 

**V.**

 

It doesn’t stop him from nagging Kaito with the question. “Seriously, why haven't you gone to the police yet?” Rei says, annoyed. “It's need-to-know information.”

Kaito ignores him. He's been venting at him one-sided for a long time now. But Kaito's had a lot of practice tuning out Aoko.

“Who is that thief, anyway?” Rei asks. “Announcing the theft before the act? Is it arrogance or confidence?”

Kaito dials a number on his phone. “Jii-chan, have you seen it?”

“Yes, Bocchama. I started putting it together as soon as I heard. The standard all-purpose kit. Doing background research on it now.”

“Thanks. I'll meet you at midnight, then.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“Jii-chan?” Rei asks. “Your grandfather?”

“Something like that,” Kaito says.

“You're finally speaking to me?”

“Oh don't be such a big baby,” Kaito says, and he walks to his father's portrait. He'd be more afraid, but Rei, true to his name, is already dead, and thus is incapable of telling anyone anything. He clicks the hidden switch and passes through the portrait, pulling a dumbfounded Rei behind him down to the secret room. “You know I can't talk to you when other people are around.”

“What the hell?” he says, looking around, cataloguing everything with a keen eye.

“'Two men can keep a secret, if one of them is dead,'” Kaito says. “I suppose since you're already dead, you’ll keep this a secret?” Kaito asks rhetorically.

“I don't understand,” Rei says finally.

“I handle things better on my own,” Kaito says, pulling out his white suit, pristine and beautiful. “Don't get in my way.”

“...As if I could,” Rei mutters. But Kaito can tell from the look on his face he's pulling it together. “Are you really—”

“Kaitou Kid? Magician and thief extraordinaire? Yes.”

“I have no idea who that is,” Rei says. “But you're a criminal?” he sounds almost betrayed.

“Criminal, such a harsh, unnecessary word,” Kaito says, mockingly hurt. “I prefer the term ‘incidental entrepreneur,” he says.

“Then that Hakuba was right.”

“Half-right, you remember.”

“He suspects you.”

“Do you think?” Kaito asks him, rolling his eyes.

“And you really show up for anyone that imitates you?” Rei asks.

“My fans deserve the real thing, don't you think?”

“That seems like a recipe for disaster. It would be nothing to maneuver you into a position where you're at a disadvantage.”

“They've tried.”

“This doesn't seem like a trap to you?”

“Of course it does. It wouldn't be the first one I've sprung.” Kaito says, putting on his suit.

Rei frowns. “Does this happen often?”

Kaito sets up his tricks in his inner pockets, the paralysis powder, the sleep powder, the knockout gas, before doing some shuffle tricks with a spare deck to keep his hands and fingers limber.

He does some dynamic stretches, checks range of motion, then dons his camouflaging black clothes, smoothing everything over.

“Often enough.” Then he slides over to the worktable, extracting his laptop, typing in _Heart’s Bane_ into the search engine.

Ruby. On the smaller side for a grand gem, but large for a cut ruby, around 30 carats, blood red. Fluoresces strongly enough to appear to glow even in the daylight.

_Pandora._

Set in the center of a ring surrounded by a dozen or so diamonds, it is of outstanding purity and deep saturation. A once in a lifetime gem, the color outshining everything.

“The product of murder,” Rei says out of nowhere.

“What? Did your ghostly powers tell you that or something?”

“No, the jewel has a legend associated with it. Do you know the legend of Elizabeth Báthory?”

Kaito wracks his brain. “... Allegedly bathed in blood of her victims, right?”

“Or drank it,” Rei says. “To preserve her youth. An oral folk legend only recently recorded said a village man broke into her prison and cut off her head in anger at the death of his daughter, but it was bloodless. Only a single drop of blood fell from her mouth, her body starved and exsanguinated, forming the jewel. The greedy executor of her estate took it home, and there's been nothing but tragedy surrounding it ever since. It's an old legend, and an even older stone.”

“It's called the Heart's Bane because of the death of so many lovers over the years.”

“Yeah. The last man, distraught over the murder of his wife to whom he'd given the ring as an engagement present, donated it the Beika Museum of Natural History before committing suicide. What's their purpose for calling you out like this?”

“A date with destiny,” Kaito says.

“A date with destiny,” Rei repeats skeptically.

 

**VI.**

 

“This doesn't look like destiny to me,” Rei says.

“Eh, you make your own destiny.”

Kaito is in his black clothes, face hidden beneath the brim of a hat as he saunters through the museum close to close. Though not as many people there as have been at some of his heists, there are still quite a few, and so he is able to walk through freely, placing his props.

The room is in a display of similar gemstones, from polished quartz like amethyst to corundum like sapphire and ruby. Most of the pieces are not gem quality, large and uncut or polished in other ways.

But in the center, surrounded by four Corinthian columns, stands the highlight of the collection.

Kaito puts his finger over his lips, making a shushing motion.

“Like I'm really going to make it easier for you to steal it,” Rei says.

Kaito shoots him a look as if to say to each his own before heading towards the jewel. He'd become downright ornery once he'd found out, and to say it's getting really annoying is an understatement.

Only a small crowd is there, no one sure exactly when the heist will be, but he looks away, keeping his head down as a boisterous Inspector Nakamori shouts orders to his men.

Kaito smiles, genuine. “Old faithful,” he murmurs.

“Wait a minute, your friend's _father_ is the Inspector over your case?”

Kaito, perhaps wisely, says nothing.

“Don't you feel even a little guilty taking advantage of them like that?” Rei asks. “I can't believe you! You had the police right there and you still didn't say anything!”

“Don't talk about what you don't know,” Kaito says. And in any case, if he was so offended, why did he prattle on about the legend associated with the jewel?

Once he gets the lay of the museum, he leads the rookie Matsuda to the toilet with a claim of seeing a suspicious character and gasses him, tying him up and donning his face and clothes. Nakamori won't be too hard on him.

Much to the chagrin of Rei who constantly nags at him as if Kaito will change his mind. So Kaito ignores him utterly.

It doesn't take Kaito long to set up his tricks. A few small generators, spotlights, a confetti ball that would drop pink smoke and hearts and hide Kaito's grand entrance from above.

Jii has done most of the prep work.

While the Inspector is going over the defenses, including an electrified cage Kaito is only too happy to avoid, Kaito swaps it with a decoy after “accidentally” tripping and falling against the Inspector.

While Kaito plays up his clumsiness as Matsuda, he also slides a false base under the decoy. A strong magnet and a small recess ensures it will hover and disappear when he wants it to.

The ring itself makes Kaito uneasy. He doesn't know what they are planning, Snake’s group. He's becoming more and more of a problem as time goes by and he's almost certainly the one who sent the heist note in order to draw Kaito out.

Which means the stone isn't Pandora. But Jii-chan is waiting in the wings. It won't be like last time.

They won't get away.

 

**VII.**

 

The wait on the roof on the building across from the museum is cold. Kaito's finished the rope snare, the net. He's taking no chances; that roof is booby-trapped to hell and back.

He will get them tonight. Express delivery to one Inspector Nakamori.

Since he has time, he holds the stone up and looks through it at the moon. Nothing. Kaito lets out a sigh and pockets the jewel. For them to be so free with it to use it as bait, he wasn’t expecting it to be anything.

Rei is quiet, watching him. He'd talked at first, but without Kaito answering him he'd gradually grown quieter and then silent. But as Kaito tucks the jewel away, he speaks. “You've already stolen it. When did you—when you fell against the Inspector! But why haven't you left yet? You've gotten what you came for.”

“Not quite,” Kaito murmurs. “Just wait.”

Thankfully, the Inspector has already sent Aoko home. Hakuba won't be here because he thinks it's another night.

The moon is high in the sky, the waning crescent grinning down in a show of white.

03:59:57

“Three,”

03:59:58

“Two,”

03:59:59

“One…”

04:00:00

“It’s showtime~” Kaito says, and he presses the button.

The screech of violins fills the air as Vivaldi’s “Winter” portion of the _Four Seasons_ begins playing. Pillars of smoke belch into the air, and red and green spotlights flash, waving back and forth, perfect for the festive season. They immediately catch the figure gliding down to the rooftop.

But Kaito can’t focus on that. Not yet. He sees the sniper directly ahead, and he’s happy his theory of the best perch worked out. He gasses him as he draws his pistol, gags him, stuffs an ornament shaped ball of cloth in his mouth and ties him tightly to the railing (after thoroughly disarming him of course).

Then he hits the back-up sniper, and their three guards, doing the same to them. He picks up his radio, tuned to the police frequency, and says, “Movement on the North building. Guys in black with guns,” with Tanaka’s voice.

Rei takes in a sharp breath at his vocal skill. Ah, it’s nice to be appreciated.

Then he presses another button, and with another covering pillar of smoke, lands on the roof of the museum right as the tempo of the music moves from _allegro_ into _largo._

A few minutes is long enough for things to turn drastically wrong, but Kaito’s not _that_ afraid for the good Inspector’s safety.

They won’t spring the snare without the rabbit.

Not that Kaito is anything as innocuous as a rabbit, oh no.

Kaito drops down the hole the impostor less than gracefully carved into the roof gently, landing on the box with his cape flowing, one hand in his pocket. He must look so cool right about now! As pink confetti and hearts rain down on him, Kaito says, “I’m sorry for being fashionably late to our date, Inspector. I brought you flowers.” He pulls a bright red bouquet of poppies out of his coat and tosses them at the line of police officers, but they all dodge, and it hits the impostor in the face instead, giving him a face full of sleeping agent. Just as he planned. “I didn’t know you liked me enough to make a fake heist note to ask me out, but I’m very flattered.”

Behind him, Rei chokes. Nakamori is turning red. Very red. Kaito can almost see steam coming out of his ears.

Kaito wags his finger at the culprit. “And you. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who said you could use my good name? Or was it you playing matchmaker?” he shakes his head, lets out a sigh. “All this head start I gave you, and you still haven’t stolen it. Is it because you don’t have the skill?

All of them, impostor and law enforcement alike stop to stare at him. One of the police officers takes the time to snap the impostor in cuffs as he wobbles from the sleep dust. He makes a note of who it is. Kaito likes competence. Also they may be a thorn in his side, later.

Kaito wants to laugh in glee, but keeps his poker face restricted to a confident smirk. He sweeps his cape over the case, rolling the extra strength magnet out from under his cuff as he does, and it immediately sends the ring off the pedestal and into the base, causing it to disappear from view.

He then palms the ring, swapping it with the magnet, and opens his hand, showing the room the real thing. He’s had it all along, but to them, it will look like he’s just magicked it out of its case. “Amateur. I can’t believe they actually thought you were me. Inspector, dear,” Kaito says grandly. “Arrest this man!” he says, pointing to him. He’s already in cuffs, and not likely to escape, but it’s the principle of the thing.

“KAITOU KID!” the inspector roars. Kaito presses his last button, covering the room in smoke.

The _largo_ moves to the _allegro_ of Winter’s third movement, and Kaito says, “Sorry, that’s my cue! I’ll have to take a rain check on our date, Inspector! I guess there’s a reason they call it the _Heart’s Bane_!”

He pulls out his card gun, shoots up where Jii’d tied the coil of rope earlier, and it falls down. As he grabs it, another shot makes the counterweight fall, and it hoists Kaito up easily.

As Kaito reaches the roof, he cuts the mechanism so they can’t follow by climbing the rope. They’ll have to take the long way around.

About to congratulate himself on the successful escape, the cocking of a hammer makes him look up.

“You,” a voice growls.

“Me,” Kaito says.  “Hey, how goes it?”

“You think you're so witty and clever. That you always play the last trick,” Snake raises a police radio. “This time, the last trick is mine,” he says. He lowers the radio and raises his gun, taking his sweet time about it.

“Duly noted,” Kaito says. He's looking around, but they've disarmed the traps. He hopes they haven't done anything with Jii-chan. Jii was supposed to be his backup, and he's nowhere to be seen. He hopes he's all right. But he can't think about that now.

“You may have disarmed my man, but this works even better.”

“For you, maybe. For me, it's so-so. Can you imagine the epitaph: here lies Kaitou Kid, killed by a cliché, generic villain. Not the way I want to go for sure. The accident last time was much more unique.”

Rei is silent. Well, maybe he's excited Kaito might soon be joining him. But it's not over until he's dead. Kaito knows there's a way out of this, he just has to find it.

“But much less permanent. Any last words before I kill you for good?”

“Not really,” Kaito says, stalling for time. Where's the Inspector? Perhaps he shouldn't have poured lube on the stairs leading up to the roof. Notes for the future. “Maybe that I wish I'd worn a clean pair of underwear. Do you know if it counts if these were clean before just now?”

“Shut up!”

Snake pulls the trigger.

The gun goes off.


	2. Shinichi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heed the M rating for some touching and mild ghost sex. And very mild (unrelated) gore, but I don't really think it's that disturbing. Figured I'd warn for it anyway. It's set up to be funny.

**VIII.**

 

The gun goes off.

Shinichi moves without thinking, lunging at Kaito. He doesn't think about the fact he's a ghost. He doesn't think about the heist, about his future, about his death.

His world narrows to that figure in white.

Shinichi collides with Kaito’s stomach, knocking him down from his standing position.

They fall.

It takes an eternity.

The bullet whistles through the air, cutting through Shinichi’s arm like it’s nothing, making Shinichi dissolve into particles.

Kaito slams into the ground, red stain spreading across his jacket over his heart and underneath him, puddling on the roof.

The man in black—nausea overwhelms Shinichi at his color of his clothing—laughs madly in triumph.

Kaito is still warm underneath him as Shinichi coalesces back into being.

And Shinichi is touching him. Shinichi can touch him. Shinichi isn’t falling through him. But that doesn’t matter if he’s dying, if he’s dead.

Killed by men in black. Just like Shinichi.

He places his head against his chest, defeated.

Against all hope, he hears the sound of his heartbeat, thudding fast and loud and strong against his ear, not stuttered like he'd expect a dying man to be.

He scrambles up, hovering over Kaito, prodding Kaito’s jacket, doesn’t find a wound.

He's still alive!

Kaito’s faking.

Shinichi spends the moment just touching him, holding on to his wrist, his blood pulsing under his fingertips, almost near tears at being able to feel sensation again, at the fact he's alive.

Shinichi’s hands tremble. He hasn’t tried. It’s just not done, touching a stranger. He'd just assumed he’d go through Kaito like the stereo had gone through him, like Aoko had gone through him.

Kaito’s lip twitches into the ghost of a grin, his body tensing. Shinichi knows he has a plan.

He waits until the man in the fedora and moustache comes closer, then he sets off some kind of equivalent of a flashbang, pulling out a canister and spraying the man with a face-full of pink aerosol. Shinichi is jerked along with him. It doesn't hurt, but he wishes he had the freedom of his own movement. Being stuck essentially half an arms’ length from another person is a difficulty hard to get used to.

He ties him up rougher than is probably necessary, but Shinichi understands. He might do the same.

Just then, the Inspector thunders up the stairs.

“On time as usual,” Kaito says, shaking his head and giving him a quick salute.

He turns, tosses the ring to Inspector Nakamori who scrambles to catch it.

Then he runs to the edge of the building, jumping off it and soaring into the night, pulling Shinichi with him.

Shinichi isn't exactly sure what to think about him as they fly through the air together.

He'd thought he was some random high school student at first. The fact his friends were trying to decode a heist note was intriguing, the riddle a nice distraction from freaking out about his own death.

But to find out he masquerades as a phantom thief…

And not even a normal one. He set up a heist for a jewel he didn't want just because someone faked an advance notice using his name. In less than eight hours.

Then he didn't even keep the ring. He went through an awfully large amount of trouble not to keep the ring. Not that Shinichi would want him to, but why would he go through so much trouble?

He's perplexing. Confusing. Doesn't fall into the normal patterns of criminal behaviour and Shinichi doesn't understand, even knowing his identity.

And then there were the men in black. Maybe the same men that killed Shinichi. Kaito knew he was going into a trap and went through it anyway, which means he’s dealt with them before.

No, Shinichi thought he had the measure of his character and it turns out he knows nothing at all about Kaito. Whatever is between him and the man in black, it's personal. Shinichi would still have gone to the police, but…

He can almost understand why he doesn't. Not that he condones it, but he understands.

Some part of him eases as Kaito is finally able to get into contact with his assistant, who had been held up by officers. Everything had worked out as well as could be expected, then. No loss of life.

“Do you keep any of the jewels you steal?” Shinichi asks as they approach his home, Kaito changing back into black and landing some distance away so as not to be so obvious.

“I don't steal just jewels,” Kaito says. “But there's only one thing I intend to keep.”

Shinichi wonders, but he doesn’t ask. There are very few reasons for that kind of specificity. Kaito is searching for something.

He wonders what will happen when he finds it.

 

**IX.**

 

Kaito can’t stay awake in class a few hours later, falling asleep so heavily he leaves drool on the desk.

So Shinichi pays attention for him. He never really knew boredom until he couldn’t sleep or interact with anything. Sometimes he wonders how he isn’t going insane. At least the schoolwork gives him something to do, even if Kaito is a little ahead of him in work.

”Kaito!” The teacher calls. Kaito doesn't move. “Solve this equation!” she says, slamming a piece of chalk on the board under said problem. 

Shinichi takes a moment to reorder the operations in his head. Then he uses his newfound discovery of touch to poke the back of Kaito's head until he shifts. “Hnn?” he says irritably, head still down on the desk.

“The answer is 0.5405,” Shinichi says. Kaito doesn't answer, so Shinichi pokes him again, repeating himself.

Kaito doesn't even look up as he repeats the answer.

“That's...right?” the teacher frowns at him.

The bell rings, signalling the end of school, and Kaito jerks up, hitting Shinichi in the knee since he is still hovering close.

“Ow,” he says, rubbing the back of his head, only to find Aoko, Hakuba, and a svelte beauty staring at him. Shinichi wonders what her name is. She seems to be one of Kaito's friends, though he hasn't yet heard her name or seen them interact.

“Aoko didn't believe Kaito when he said he could do these problems in his sleep,” Aoko says. She sounds amazed.

“I'm just that great!” Kaito says with a wide grin. Shinichi sighs, puts his face in his palm. He’s the one who did all the work. Serves him right for helping him, he guesses. But it’s at least half an act. He’s that confident, yes, but it seems he’s partly showing off for his friend for attention.

“I'm more interested in the fact you just seemed to collide with something in midair,” the long-haired one says. She reaches over Kaito, her hand passing through Shinichi like it's nothing, causing him to disintegrate. She doesn't taste like coconut, though. It's strong saffron; bitter and sharp with the faint taste of honeyed sweetness. Shinichi idly wonders if everyone has a flavor.

She doesn't move her hand, just lets it stay stretched out like she's feeling for something, and eventually Shinichi coalesces back into being—only with her hand still sticking through his middle. “And yet, there’s nothing,” she says, surprised.

It doesn't hurt, but it is annoying. “Can you get her to stop that?” Shinichi asks, poking Kaito’s head.

Kaito ignores him, as usual. It doesn't matter since she drops her arm, but still. He dissolves again as she moves through him, but he reappears. That's getting a little old. Shinichi is tired of being incorporeal.

“About that heist last night,” Hakuba says, leading. Shinichi frowns. He can't really get the measure of him. “I'd heard there were gunshots, and Inspector Nakamori found cut rope and bullet casings. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?” he asks Kaito.

Damn. So the man in black had gotten free. 

“Why would I know anything about that?” Kaito says. “I wasn't there,” he lies perfectly. “Aoko would probably know more than me?”

Aoko shakes her head. “Aoko doesn't. Aoko got sent home.”

“But you figured it out, didn't you?” The unnamed girl says, grabbing hold of Kaito's arm, and holding it tightly so his arm is nestled between her breasts. “The real time of the heist. I heard you say it yesterday. Lunar noon.”

Shinichi looks down. He has a hole through his stomach the size of her arm. It doesn't hurt, but he can see his ghostly viscera and pulsating organs. Gross.

“Get off me, Akako,” Kaito grumbles, yanking himself out of her tight grip. “So what?

Akako is her name, then.

“Ah. So the wording was less ambiguous than I thought,” Hakuba murmurs to himself.

“Aoko, you coming?” Kaito asks.

“No, Aoko has Astronomy club!”

Kaito frowns. “Since when are you into astronomy?”

“Aoko has tried to tell you before, you know!” she says, crossing her arms. “You would know if you paid attention!”

“Do you want me to wait for you?”

She shakes her head. “Go on home, Kaito.”

He stalks out of school in a foul mood, head down and hands in his pockets, scuffing his shoes on the pavement, dragging Shinichi along.

Shinichi doesn’t know what to say. It kind of reminds him a little of him and Ran and it’s painful to think about that. So he doesn’t say anything.

At one point, Kaito looks over and sees Shinichi prodding at the hole in his rib cage, touching his growing stomach. It's a very unique perspective to see them like this. So Shinichi is studying it, just it case it has any future use. He can't think of any right now, but one never knows.

“That’s disgusting,” Kaito says, making a face. “I can see your liver. And is that your lung?”

“Well, you don’t have to look,” Shinichi says. It’s reforming as he speaks, albeit slowly. It’s not like it hurts.

“Ugh, why are you poking it? That’s even worse,” he says, shuddering. Then a sly look crosses his face. “I can see right through you.”

“In more ways than one, I imagine,” Shinichi says dryly.

Kaito reaches over, tentatively touching the edge of his jacket. His hand doesn't go through, resting on him as if Shinichi is solid. Theory confirmed, then. “Does it hurt?” he asks, genuinely curious. he pokes his liver, and it still doesn't hurt, but Kaito makes a face. 

“No, not really.” And then, just to get him back, Shinichi rejoins with, “Just call it a gut feeling.”

“Really?” Kaito says with a huff, stretching his arms over his head before letting them fall to the side. But he's smiling, walking ahead so Shinichi doesn't see his face. Too late, though.

Shinichi just watches him for a long moment as Kaito pulls him along, just thinking.

The silence is companionable, friendly.

Kaito is someone Shinichi sees himself getting along with, had things been different. Maybe if he had met him at the right time, in the right place, had he not been a thief, had Shinichi lived...

Saving his life had changed something between them, and Shinichi is trying to find new ground.

There's something about them that has been growing since Shinichi’s appearance in his bedroom that night.

Shinichi hesitates to put a name to it, but he thinks he knows the seeds of what has been planted, what's starting to show growth.

It scares him.

 

**X.**

 

Once the thought is there, he can't get it out of his mind as the days pass.

Kaito, who is both brilliant and frustrating in the best of ways.

And honestly, Shinichi isn't the police. He has a strong sense of justice, but Kaito doesn't have to tell him every detail for him to understand.

Men in black. A false heist set as a trap to assassinate him. A specific jewel he is looking for that must do something involving the moon, something that the men in black are looking for as well.

He’d caught the fake one, left him for the police, redirected their aggression away from the police and towards himself.

Shinichi stares past a point on the wall as Kaito gets ready for bed. It’s been a long time since he misjudged someone like that so thoroughly. Maybe part of his own problem had been he’d gotten too confident in his skills and paid the ultimate price.

Would Shinichi turn him in if it came to it?

Probably not.

But then his mind moves back to that rooftop. Shinichi had already forgotten just what sensation felt like, and doesn’t think he’ll take it for granted ever again. “Why do you think I can touch you?” Shinichi asks, wanting to find out his thoughts. They haven't really discussed it.

Kaito turns, ignoring him. In fact, come to think of it, Kaito has been mostly ignoring him since the rooftop. Shinichi decides he doesn't want that to continue. He hasn't even thanked him for saving his life. Not that Shinichi needs or did it for the thanks, but it's the principle of the thing.

“I can touch you,” Shinichi says, louder. Does he not realize how amazing that is?

Kaito slams a pillow over his head. “Good for you. Now let me sleep.”

“You know, you should be happy for me,” Shinichi says, annoyed.

“Yay,” Kaito says flatly. “Just what I always wanted. Even more reasons for my creepy stalker ghost to become even more annoying. I should have just let him shoot me.”

Shinichi pokes him in his side. “Idiot. You would have. You just stood there like a moron while I tackled you out of the way.”

Kaito jumps, then glares at him, rolling on his back. “You're cold!”

“Can't help it. Dead.”

“If I say please, will you leave me alone?” Kaito says. “I'm tired and I want to sleep.”

“Why have you been ignoring me?” Shinichi asks.

Kaito pointedly closes his eyes and settles in.

Shinichi is tired of being ignored.

The poke on his bare skin had felt really nice, leaving a tingling warmth in his fingers. Shinichi hasn't touched anything in so long; he drags his hand down Kaito's bare chest. The warmth spreads to his entire palm. He does it again, lightly running his hands up Kaito's side across his ribs, tickling him. The warmth reaches his fingertips. It's nice to touch someone again, even if it's an annoying thief too noble for his own good.

“Stop,” Kaito says.

Still annoyed, Shinichi ignores him for a change, fingertips tracing down his sternum to the line between his abdominals. He touches the crest of his hips, dragging his hand across his stomach to the other one, circling his navel. Serves him right for ignoring him. He drags the back of his hand back up to his chest and the warmth spreads there, too. Shinichi hasn't realized what he's been missing and he's touch hungry.

“Please stop,” Kaito says, fidgeting underneath his hands, and he sounds panicked.

Shinichi still ignores him, still touching, splaying both his hands across his chest, running them over his pectorals. He's so warm. He runs a hand down his shoulder, across his neck, spans back down his chest.

“ _Please_ ,” Kaito moans, and there's a quality to his voice, a throaty note that wasn't there before, and that, more than anything, makes Shinichi stop cold.

Kaito's breathing hard, lying back on the bed, and his face is flushed and warm, and there's a tent in his pajama bottoms, and _oh._ Oops _._

“Sorry,” Shinichi says meekly.

“I'm losing my mind,” Kaito says, half-hysterical.

“I didn't mean to cause that kind of reaction,” Shinichi says.

“I know,” Kaito says, his eyes closed as if in defeat.

Shinichi says, “I won't touch you anymore.”

Kaito says, maybe a little too quickly, “You can touch, just—with my permission, okay?” He blushes and turns his head as he says it, surprisingly shy, and Shinichi bites his lip, unable to do anything but think about it.

Even with the connotations of that kind of personal touch, he still kind of wants to. Kaito looks at him expectantly, so he reaches out, hesitant, and Kaito grabs his wrist and places his palm on his chest, over his heart. Shinichi runs his hand down ever so slowly, dragging a rough palm across his nipple. Kaito trembles but he doesn’t say anything, so Shinichi asks, “This okay?”

“I’ll let you know if it isn’t,” Kaito says.

But he lets Shinichi have his fill of touching him. Doesn’t say anything as Shinichi runs his hands across his back, through his hair, across the fine details of his face, each stroke letting him _feel_ again. Just warmth, though. Not any kind of arousal, though Shinichi is not even certain he felt that towards anyone when he was alive. It’s too addicting for him to stop himself, not with his permission, even knowing exactly what his touch is doing to Kaito.

Kaito lets him. He can touch Shinichi, too, and he didn't stop Shinichi from touching him before, either. The implications of that are huge.

He's trim with lean muscle, and it's part longing to touch something, part study that keeps Shinichi at it.

Shinichi stops well before he wants to.

He turns around as Kaito’s hand drifts below his waist, unable to give him the privacy that he needs. Shinichi can still hear the slide of skin on skin, Kaito’s erratic breathing, and can well imagine what he’s doing.

He closes his eyes, lets himself listen, and wonders when he got so invested in this thief, and why what’s happening doesn’t bother him at all.

 

**XI.**

 

Shinichi doesn't say much about Kaito's thieving anymore. There’s not much to say. The heists follow a similar pattern, each ending with Kaito holding a jewel up to the moon.

Shinichi has still never asked what that is all about. He’s not sure he wants to know the answer.

He doesn’t protest, though. Kaito is a good person, in his own way. Hardly demonstrative, but he doesn’t need to be. He’s a force of nature; neither good nor bad, he just is. They’ve become comfortable with each other, something Shinichi never thought he would be with someone on the other side of the law.

Not that what he’s doing is much of a crime, not really. So far, he hasn’t kept anything. At the most, it’s a little property damage. Maybe trespassing, or breaking and entering.

Shinichi listens as Kaito watches the skies over Haido City Hotel. He's turning to talk to his assistant, an older man that sort of reminds Shinichi of Agasa.

Kaito's after a new gem, the Black Star, and it sounds familiar, but Shinichi can't quite remember where from.

As his assistant leaves to finish prep and backup, Kaito continues talking, killing time, waiting for the perfect moment to make his move.

“I’ve only ever met one other detective that came as close to catching me as Hakuba has. Probably closer, come to think of it,” and with that, Kaito launches into the tale of the Clock Tower heist.

Almost from the very beginning, Shinichi realizes he's talking about that time with Megure in the helicopter.

Shinichi lets him tell it, highly entertained, even more so as Kaito reveals how close Shinichi had come to actually capturing him, until Shinichi can’t help but say, “Yeah, that was actually me.” He grins wide.

“You’re kidding,” Kaito says, eyes wide. “That was you?”

“I fancied myself a detective when I was alive,” Shinichi says. “Not that it matters now. Isn’t it funny that we’ve met before?”

“Funny isn’t the word I’d use,” Kaito says, his gaze heavy. Shinichi wants to look away, but can’t. “Seems we were always destined to meet, to be at odds.”

“Maybe not. Maybe if it had been the right time, or the right place, we could have been friends?” Shinichi asks.

“‘Friends?’ We were never meant to be friends,” Kaito says, and before Shinichi can register his own disappointment, Kaito grips his chin and pulls him in for a kiss.

Shinichi wraps his arms around him, pulls himself closer. Warmth spreads from point of contact until Shinichi feels himself blush from the heat.

He nearly feels alive again.

Maybe they were always destined to be this. Maybe it was Shinichi’s poor life choices that led them to this point. Shinichi regrets being so careless, that he’d let his life slip away from his fingers.

Because he wants to share his warmth. This half life is better than no life at all, but he mourns what could have been had they met under better circumstances.

And it may be selfish, but if he has to spend the rest of his unlife with Kaito, he’d rather it be like this, even though he privately thinks Kaito should focus on someone living.

This is comfort. Just being around him feels like home, and that is enough for Shinichi.

“I wish you were alive,” Kaito murmurs against his jaw.

“Yeah, me too,” Shinichi says. He pulls back, turns his head. “Those men in black...I don’t know if they’re the same ones, but two men in black are the reason I’m dead.” Kaito stiffens. “You need to be careful. I don’t want you joining me anytime soon,” Shinichi says, cupping his cheek.

“I won’t,” Kaito says, reaching up and grabbing his hand, linking their fingers together. “I promise.”

Halfway there, Shinichi phases and glitches following behind him, falling from the sky as if gravity is finally affecting him, staggering, leaving afterimages of himself. It hurts, and he hadn't thought he could feel anything.

But soon, he feels nothing at all.

 

**XII.**

 

The next thing he knows, he’s appeared in Kaito's room, on Kaito’s bed, next to him. Kaito jerks forward, runs his arms over him, checking him over, panic all over his face.

“Where'd you go?” Kaito asks. “I'd kind of gotten used to having you around.” It's said flippantly, but Kaito is uncharacteristically tense, and his grip on Shinichi's arms are tight.

“I...don't know,” Shinichi says. “What happened?” Scenes blip through his mind, people he doesn’t recognize, places he’s never been. His head feels overly full, and if he could feel anything at all, he’d say it was a headache. He can’t make any sense of it.

“Everything went as planned,” Kaito says.

“How long has it been?” Shinichi says, rubbing his head.

“Just few hours,” Kaito says, uncharacteristically grim. “But I thought I’d—” He looks down. Then he looks back up at Shinichi, his eyes steely. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Kaito, I’m dead. You’ve already lost me,” Shinichi says, not unkindly, just to remind him of the reality of their situation.

“It’s not the same thing,” Kaito says, shaking his head. “Figment of my imagination or whatever, I don't care anymore. I think I—”

Shinichi holds his breath. Or he would be if he could breathe.

“I think I really like you,” Kaito says.

“I could get used to you,” Shinichi says in response. It makes Kaito laugh. “But you’re going to have to accept the fact that one day, I won’t be here.”

“You don’t know that,” Kaito says.

“I’m dead. Whatever’s keeping me here is acting up. I might not be here much longer.”

“I’ll miss you,” Kaito blurts out. “Just don’t leave me without saying goodbye.”

“I might not be able to help it,” Shinichi says. “Do you think I want to?”

Kaito doesn’t respond, turning with his back to Shinichi and closing his eyes, feigning sleep. He hovers over him, feeling unsettled.

That night seems longer than the rest have been. Shinichi doesn't know if it really is, but it certainly feels that way.

Part of it is his surprise at Kaito's intense reaction. At the most, he'd thought they'd be friends. If that.

It's different for Shinichi. Kaito is alive and has his choice of the living. Shinichi just has Kaito, and Kaito can't spend the rest of his life or however long they have wasting away with a dead man.

But hanging around him isn't so bad. He's not really a criminal, anyway, not with only one thing to steal, though Shinichi could say a few things about vigilante justice. Though as a private detective, he could fall into that, since it's only occasionally police mandated.

There are worse things. Shinichi imagines haunting that silver haired man and shudders, though it could have potentially given Shinichi a way to get him arrested.

Kaito does read the paper every day, and Shinichi hasn't seen anything about his own death.

It doesn't bother him as much as it did at first. He's kind of accepted it. There are worse things. At least this way he can see the beauty of a sunrise. See the seasons change. Force Kaito to let him catch up on _Detective Samonji_ , as much as he protests.

And even if he lost that much, he doesn't think it would be bad. Shinichi doesn't know why he's still here, why he didn't fade that night he originally died. Doesn't know why he came back now after disappearing, why he didn't completely fade away.

But it brought him back to the reality of the situation.

He ghosts his hand over Kaito's face, cupping his cheek.

He's out of time.

Shinichi has been living on borrowed time for far too long. Maybe the learning came too late.

He doesn’t know how much time he has left.

A last chance…

He will take advantage of it while he can, however unfair it may be to Kaito.

 

**XIII.**

 

Shinichitries to brace Kaito's arm, gripping his glove, but it doesn't work. As soon as the glove leaves Kaito's skin, Shinichi loses all ability to affect it.

Nightmare still slips through his fingers, falling to the floor of the warehouse with a sickening crunch, blood pooling under his head.

Shinichi doesn't think he's ever seen that look on Kaito's face as he pulls out his card gun, shoots the mask off his face to protect the innocence of his son.

Pain. Frustration. Rage.

And then Kid has to flee.

Kaito enters his house in a rage, slamming doors and kicking things around. His suit, normally hung and displayed with loving care, is balled into a crumpled heap and tossed in the corner.

He changes into his sleepwear and punches his pillows until his strength is exhausted.

Then he kneels on the center of the bed, holds his fists to his temple and breathes. Slow. Deep. In. Out.

Shinichi feels much the same way. He hates senseless death, even for someone like that. Intentions twisted into pain like dreams turned into nightmares. The name is apt.

Shinichi doesn't know what to say. It hadn't been a happy ending, and Shinichi has the sinking feeling Kaito is beating himself up for it.

Shinichi reaches over, places his hand on Kaito's shoulder. “Hey,” he says.

Kaito reaches over, places his hand on top of his. “Hey.”

Emboldened, Shinichi says, “You did everything you could.”

“I know. But it wasn't supposed to happen like that. I tried.”

“I know,” Shinichi soothes. “It was over in the blink of an eye for me, when that man hit me over the head,” Shinichi lies. “If it’s any consolation, he probably didn't feel much pain.”

“I wished that helped,” Kaito laughs bitterly, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

“He could have pulled you down with him.” Shinichi hugs him from behind. Kaito's knees fall, and he leans back into him. He presses his face against Kaito’s neck, hesitating only a moment before pressing a soft kiss to the side of his throat.

Kaito's breath catches. He falls back against him as Shinichi kisses the juncture of his shoulder, back to his neck, just under his ear before whispering, “I can't lose you.”

Kaito shivers.

Shinichi shifts, laying Kaito down gently before hovering over him, floating just above. He caresses his neck, runs his hand down, stopping at his heart.

Kaito fingers his coat. “Do you think you can take it off?”

“I haven't tried.” He lifts his jacket, pulling it off, but as soon as it leaves his skin, it dissolves and reappears.

“Mmm. Problem,” Kaito says. He unbuttons Shinichi's jeans, pulling him out, running his hand over him. "Seems like that works." He's still soft, but Kaito's hands are so warm. “Are you not? Can you even?” Kaito asks.

“I don't know,” Shinichi asks. “Even when I was alive, I never really felt—I mean it works, or it did, but,” he says, shifting, floating a little higher in his nervousness. “Ghost?”

“I like a challenge,” Kaito says, grinning. It's a well, ghost of itself, shaky and not very strong, but he is smiling again, thoughts of Nightmare gone.

Then he strokes him repeatedly, warmth surging through Shinichi and turning into heat until Shinichi is flushed and hard.

He feels almost alive again, body warmed from head to toe. “I don't make you cold, do I?” Shinichi asks.

Kaito shakes his head. “Not at all.”

Shinichi leans down, kissing him. Then Shinichi lines himself up against Kaito and starts rocking against him. Kaito's panting and flushed and so very warm. Their hands entwined, Kaito gripping him hard as they rock together.

“Just this,” Shinichi murmurs as the feeling builds, slow.

“I need you. Please, I need you,” Kaito says into his shoulder as his movement grows more frantic. “Please don’t go.”

“I won't,” Shinichi lies, providing what comfort he can as Kaito falls over the edge. Kaito pulls him down to the bed, and Shinichi curls around him.

“Don’t leave me,” Kaito begs.

“I won’t,” Shinichi says.

 

**XIV.**

 

The last thing Shinichi registers before winking out of existence is snow.

Shinichi can’t describe what happens next. The closest he can describe it is feeling like he’s entered the heart of the sun, and everything’s burning. His body, his eyes, his toes, he sees each distinct bone in his hands as he raises his them to block his eyes.

It clears, and Shinichi finds himself in an endless meadow edged by fog.

“I’m Edogawa Conan, detective!” A bright chipper elementary school kid says behind horn-rimmed glasses way too big for his face. Shinichi recognizes him; the shape of his face pings like an old memory, but he’s not sure from where. “Heheheh!”

“And I’m Doyle Ranpo,” Shinichi says flatly. They look like his father’s glasses, the spare pair he keeps in the library. “That’s obviously a made up name, and it sounds stupid.”

The kid crosses his arms. “Hey, hey. I didn’t name me. You did.”

“That’s funny. I don’t remember it,” Shinichi says, crossing his arms as well, not realizing he is mirroring his posture.

“You wouldn’t,” the kid says.

“Oh, and why not?”

“Because it happened. Won’t happen? Was supposed to happen but didn’t? Did happen but will. Or happened sideways? Because I’m the you that you’re supposed to be but you aren’t because you refuse to listen to your soul. You'd be out of this by now if you paid attention more.”

“What are you saying?”

The kid lets out a sigh. “I’m you, idiot. You’re supposed to have a brain. Why can’t you follow along?”

“What? No, that can’t be. I don’t know why you’re here playing pretend, but—”

“Only, I’m you if you survive,” the child says, talking over him.

It stops Shinichi immediately in his tracks. “What? What do you mean, ‘survive?’”

“Use your brain for once, stupid. You think normal people wake up in an endless meadow without recalling how they got there?”

“If I’m you, aren’t you calling yourself stupid?” Shinichi asks.

“Not really. We’re already different. I’m alive, and you’re dead for one.”

“Dead?” Shinichi laughed. “I know I'm dead. But if I’m you, and you’re alive, doesn’t that mean that I’m alive as well?”

“You’re the idiot who doesn’t remember anything important, neh,” he blows a raspberry, sticks his tongue out.

“I would never act like such a brat,” Shinichi says, affronted.

“How little you know,” Conan says, shaking his head. “But I do have a gift for you. You should take it,” he says, holding out his hand. It's a little red and white pill, and the sight of it fills Shinichi with dread for some reason.

“But—”

Conan waggles his finger. “Nope. You gotta take it if you want to know.”

“Know what?”

“Your destiny.”

Shinichi reaches out, but pauses before retracting his hand. “You make your own destiny,” Shinichi says.

“Atta boy,” Conan says, and then he tackles Shinichi, knocking him to the ground, shoving the pill inside his mouth.

Shinichi wakes, disoriented and in a lot of pain. A little girl is talking to him, but he doesn’t register her at the moment, fascinated by the novelty of feeling something like pain after nothing but Kaito’s warm touch.

His body feels heavy, and he stumbles around like a baby, the world rocking under his feet. He’s naked. He doesn't recognize his location, or who she is, but she's holding out clothes so he scrambles for them, staggering out of the room half dressed.

He's in Agasa’s house for some reason, staggering past the doctor as he says something, trying to hold him back. Shinichi isn't having any of it. He has to see Kaito.

He has to.

He checks himself for his wallet, finds it, hails a taxi, shoves money at the driver as he drops him off at Kaito's house.

Then he runs to his door, pounding on it. “Kaito! Kaito!”

No answer. He doesn't have his phone number or anything, never thought he might need it, “Kaito!” he beats it with his fists, ringing the doorbell and knocking on it as loud as he can.

Still no answer. Shinichi knocks one more time, then leans back against the door, running his hands through his hair.

Maybe running over here without a plan hadn't been the best idea.

“Hello?” Shinichi hears a voice.

Shinichi turns, and it’s Aoko-chan, looking at him oddly. Though he probably shouldn't be so familiar. Still, she's real, which means Shinichi wasn't just having some kind of bizarre dream. He shoves the implications of that into the back of his mind, determined not to think about it.

“Nakamori-san!” he shouts gratefully.

“Have we met?” she asks him, cautious.

“Have you seen Kaito?” She looks back towards her house at his question, uncertain.

Before she can answer, Kaito comes out of her house, carrying a half-eaten cake, followed by the Inspector. His head is turned away, and he's talking to him about something. He looks like he hasn't had any sleep in a long time.

“Kaito!” Shinichi shouts.

Kaito freezes, then turns to look at him. He takes a sharp breath, closes his eyes for a long moment, blinks hard, looks again. Then he turns away.

Shinichi just stands there, dumbfounded at that reception.

“Kaito, do you know him?” Aoko asks. “He's asking for you by name.”

“You mean he's—” Kaito begins. The dish in his hand trembles, the plate falls to the ground, shattering, the cake smashed. Kaito doesn't seem to notice, eyes fixed on Shinichi.

Then he runs. Shinichi runs to meet him and envelops him in a tight embrace. “Kaito. I'm back. I'm alive.”

“You're real,” he says against his ear. “Rei!”

“Shinichi. It's actually Shinichi.”

“Shinichi,” Kaito parrots. “Shinichi,” he repeats. “I thought you'd passed on, or I'd really made you up.”

“I'm real, Kaito. I'm here. I'm alive.” Kaito pulls him into another tight embrace, and it doesn't seem like he ever wants to let go.

“How long has it been?” Shinichi asks

“Ages,” Kaito says, face pressed against his. “Much longer than last time. It feels like years. I can't believe you're here. I can't believe you're alive.”

“Who are you?” The gruff Inspector asks. “And how do you two know one another?”

“That is what I would like to know as well,” the sharp voice of a little girl rings out. “This is the opposite of a low profile, Kudō-kun.”

“Listen,” Shinichi says, annoyed, “I don't know who you are, but—”

“Mark amnesia as a possible side effect, Doctor,” the little girl says. Her eyes flicker to the side.

“Yes, Ai-kun,” Agasa says, wringing his hands. "Shinichi-kun, you do need to come with us, we need to run a few tests to make sure the medicine is working properly—”

“Medicine?” Kaito interrupts, patting him down, grabbing both sides of his face and bringing him close, looking in his mouth. “Are you sick? Were you poisoned? You said they forced a pill down your throat—”

“I don't have any idea. I came here as soon as I woke up.”

“Yes, and now you need to come back with us,” the little girl says.

“Doctor, who is this little brat, anyway?” Shinichi says.

“That's rich, coming from you,” the little girl says.

“Wait a minute, if someone poisoned your friend, Kaito—” the Inspector starts.

“He's not going anywhere without me—” Kaito says.

Aoko is looking from person to person, then she takes a deep breath and shouts, “I just want to know what's going on!”

“Doctor Agasa is my next door neighbor and a trusted friend,” Shinichi says. “I don’t know who she is.”

“I am the doctor’s ward,” the little girl says primly. “I am called Haibara Ai.” Another sideways glance towards nothing. “Kudō-kun, what is the last thing you remember?”

“The last thing I remember is talking with Kaito—" Shinichi stops. He can't say on a snowy mountain since Kaito was in disguise at the time. "Last night," he finishes lamely.

“That’s not possible,” Haibara says. “You spent last night at the Professor’s under his supervision.”

“He was with me,” Kaito says, standing between Shinichi and Haibara.

Shinichi places a hand on his arm. “It’s all right, Kaito. I’ll go back with them. I just wanted you to know—You’re not crazy, you know?”

“Yeah,” Kaito says, looking away.

“And um,” Shinichi stutters just a little bit, raising his hand to Kaito’s cheek, cupping it, making him face him. “I think I really like you, too,” he says, kissing him on the forehead.

Then he ducks into the beetle, Haibara and Agasa following.

 

**XV. -B O N U S**

 

That leaves Aoko and her father staring at Kaito. He doesn’t notice it at first, forlornly watching Shinichi leave, the warmth of his lips lingering on his forehead.

Aoko has her mouth open as he turns, and Nakamori Ginzō looks at him as if he's never seen him before.

“So,” he begins. And then he stops, as if he has no idea how to continue.

“Well, aren't you going to go after him?” Aoko says, hands on her hips.

“What?”

“You just let him leave! Aren't you going to go after him?” Aoko says.

“He fits the profile of missing or deceased persons you asked me to look through, Kaito,” the Inspector says, giving him a knowing look. “He was never reported. This might be your only chance.”

“He'd find me,” Kaito murmurs. “Tell me; do you believe in soulmates?”

The Inspector's eyes flicker over to a spot near Aoko, and that's all the confirmation Kaito needs. He tilts his head in question because he has to be sure.

He nods, his face grim. Then his face softens a bit. He reaches out, touches air like he's grasping a hand, much to Aoko's growing confusion. “This is a chance none of us get to have, Kaito-kun. To know for sure while both of you are still alive. Go get him.”

Kaito bows to thin air. “I humbly thank you very much,” he says solemnly. Then he's off like a shot to the Blue Parrot, phoning Jii and asking him where his inventor friend lives.

He's seen that beetle before.

Jii drops him off a block down. It's not much to pick the lock and go inside when no one answers the door.

Shinichi is sitting on the couch, getting yelled at by that Haibara girl.

“Those men are still after you, you know! What was I supposed to think when you ran off like that?”

“Now now, Ai-kun,” the professor attempts to placate her, hands up. “He doesn't remember—”

“He remembers enough! He told me himself he remembers Gin and Vodka—”

“Is that their names?” Shinichi says.

“You cannot afford to be that careless. Those men in black will kill you. I made you that antidote because you were reckless and that girl figured out your identity.”

“Yeah, well, they already did once. What are they going to do, kill me again? Been there, done that.”

“It isn’t like you to be so glib. You are not invincible, Kudō-kun.”

“You've also claimed I've been a six year old kid this entire time.”

Oh. Oh no. Kaito lets out a swear because damn it, if this is going where he thinks it's going—

“How is that any less believable than being a ghost?” she asks.

“I refuse to believe I was some bratty little kid named Edogawa Conan. I've met him. Full of attitude and really creepy. Kind of like you, come to think of it,” Shinichi says.

Yeah, Kaito sees the resemblance between Shinichi and Edogawa Conan.

“You do realize you're talking about yourself, right? Wait. You met yourself? How in the world did you meet yourself?” Haibara asks. “That man of yours has never come close to you.”

“That's proprietary information, sorry.”

“Shinichi-kun,” the portly doctor says. “Please be reasonable. If you truly were on another plane of existence, what happened to your body when those men fed you that pill?” the doctor asks.

“But then what was I?” Shinichi asks. “Why did I start haunting Kaito if I wasn't dead?”

“There are no such things as ghosts. I don't know why you insist on carrying on like that,” Haibara says.

“Perhaps the shock of the change forced you out of your body, and it went to the nearest connection,” Kaito says, sauntering into the room, hands in his pockets. “And when the antidote changed you back, your body was big enough to accommodate your soul again.”

Shinichi chuckles. “Breaking and entering, again,” he says, shaking his head.

Both the little girl and the doctor whirl to face him. “How did you get in here?” she demands.

“Door was open,” Kaito says.

“It wasn’t!” Haibara says heatedly. “I locked it myself!”

“You use a cheap lock. It might as well be the same thing. Might want to look into that, Professor,” Kaito says. “Not everyone is as nice as I am.”

“R-right,” the professor nods.

“So those two men in black you told me about have little murdering issues too?”

“Oh yeah. And there's more than two of them, too. Joy.”

“Isn't it just? Any connection?”

“Other than dress code? Probably not. But they also kill witnesses. Probably everyone I know and love, too. Oh, and she used to be a part of them,” Shinichi says, gesturing in Haibara’s general direction.

“You scratch my back, I scratch yours type of thing?” Kaito says, holding out his hand.

“Deal,” Shinichi says, and they shake on it.

“How do you know him?” Haibara says. “Why are you so unconcerned with him breaking in and knowing everything?”

“Who is your soulmate, Haibara?” Shinichi says.

She freezes.

“Probably your sister Miyano Akemi, right? That’s why you keep glancing over there. That’s why you didn’t say anything about me claiming to be a ghost. Kaito’s my soulmate, Haibara. I trust him.”

“And I’m not going anywhere,” Kaito says. “So you best let me help, yeah?”

“I thought you didn’t remember,” she says quietly.

“Conan made sure I did.”

“I don't think I understand,” she says.

“I don't either,” Shinichi says truthfully, “but it is what it is. Now listen, if Kaito is good for it, I have a plan for tomorrow.”

“Of course. I won't lose you. Not again.” Kaito says, linking their fingers together. “I’ll take on the world if I have to.”

“Good resolve,” says Haibara. “Because you might just have to.”

“First things first. I can't let her be a part of this. But I can't let her think I'm dead, either.”

“Then you'll tell her everything?” Haibara says. “I highly advise against it. That was the whole purpose of giving it to you before it was completed, so your identity can remain a secret. You saw what happened. If they even so much as think you’re alive—”

“No,” Shinichi says. “I won’t tell her everything. But I will tell her I'm alive. She deserves that much. And on a case where it's hard to keep in touch. I can't be careless anymore.”

“Looks like someone got that through your thick head,” Haibara mutters.

“Play a fool enough times, and even he eventually learns,” Kaito says.

“Oh thanks a lot,” Shinichi says. “Now let’s get to business.”

 

 


End file.
